U.S. Working on Possible Textile Agreement With China
The Bush administration is postponing decisions on several requests to curb apparel imports while it decides whether to continue talks with China about a comprehensive textile agreement.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements in Washington, D.C., announced on Aug. 1 that it will postpone its final decision on six safeguard measures, moving the date from July 31 to Aug. 31. The safeguards would cover Chinese exports of wool trousers, sweaters, bras, dressing gowns, knit fabric and other synthetic filament fabric.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government accepted for review additional safeguard cases covering socks, woven blouses, skirts, nightwear and swimwear, which could restrict import of those categories by mid- to late October.
Safeguard measures, or temporary quotas, limit China’s export to 7.5 percent above last year’s number. Already safeguard measures have closed the door this year for imports of six apparel categories: cotton knit tops, cotton pants, underwear, men’s and boys’ woven tops, synthetic knit tops, and synthetic pants.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez praised the safeguard measure postponement. “[The] decision will allow us time to engage in substantive discussions with our domestic textile and apparel industries and members of Congress on whether there is interest in a broader textile agreement with China,” he said in a press statement.
The U.S. government has had two talks with Beijing about establishing a broad textile accord similar to the one struck between China and the European Union. The China-EU pact limits Chinese apparel and textile export growth to between 8 percent and 12.5 percent annually in 10 categories until the end of 2007. U.S. safeguard measures limit Chinese export growth to 7.5 percent annually until the end of 2008.
The National Council of Textile Organizations praised the Bush administration’s decision to meet with Congress and the domestic industry. “By using its currency as an economic weapon and by pouring billions of dollars of illegal subsidies into its textile sector, the Chinese government has effectively declared war on U.S. textile producers and their workers,” said the organization’s president, Cass Johnson. “As a result, Chinese exports of apparel to the United States have increased by over 800 million garments in just the first five months of the year.”
The United States is expecting a $200 billion trade deficit this year with China, compared with $162 billion last year.
—Deborah Belgum
